Dispatches from the new Russian empire

Stalin is Dead

While surfing the internet for old Soviet photos, I came across a blog called Iconic Photos. It’s a brilliant photography blog that discusses iconic photos both old and new. Below is a photo of Stalin’s funeral as well as an excerpt from Iconic Photos‘ post on it:

“On March 1st, 1953, the morning after an all-night dinner in his country estate outside Moscow centre, Joseph Stalin failed to rise at his usual time. He was discovered lying on the floor of his room only at about 10 p.m. in the evening. The Deputy Prime Minister Lavrentiy Beria was summoned, but neither he nor the politburo called the doctors until the next day. (A few months earlier, aging and paranoid Marshal Stalin fabricated a “Doctors Plot” to assassinate top Soviet leaders). With his drunken son Vasili storming around the room, and the members of the Politburo haplessly wringing their hands, Stalin died on 5th March, and his body was transported back to the city to lay in state at the Hall of Columns, the grand ballroom of the House of Trade Unions, where Lenin had lain in state too…”

To continue reading about Stalin’s death and other iconic photos of Stalin click here.

Also, to get an in-depth explanation of the Kremlin’s most recent internet faux pas, check out Iconic Photo’s post on the now infamous Alexey Navalny/Boris Berezovsky photo: